With four wins in a row, the Raptors fan who suffered through the first 23 games of the schedule saw the 24th has every right to be a little excited.

Consider this a caution. There are tougher times ahead.

Not to go all Scrooge on the readers with Christmas just around the corner, but for the sake of sanity and sound judgment it has to be pointed out that the heady days the Raptors are enjoying right now have come with some help from the schedule maker, not to mention the looming cloud that hangs over the roster once health is restored.

The same schedule maker who put the Raptors in free fall earlier this year with 15 of their first 22 games on the road, seems to have found the Christmas spirit all of a sudden and is delivering the Raptors sub .500 competition at a dizzying rate.

While neither Dallas nor Houston fit that mould when they arrived in Toronto and were promptly sent packing with a loss, the Raps are currently in what can only be described as the “soft” portion of their schedule.

Beginning with the win over Cleveland on Tuesday and through to a January 4th home date with Sacramento, the Raptors have or will play eight games. Of those eight opponents, seven have lost more games than they have won this year.

The reality is what it is and it’s imperative that the Raptors take full advantage now when the schedule is in their favour ... and while distractions are at a minimum because there are some potentially big one’s on the horizon.

Toronto isn’t alone in this scheduling quirk. The visitors Friday night, the Orlando Magic, also is in the middle of a similar eight-game stretch against a number of the league’s lesser lights.

It sort of explains how two teams —­ Toronto and Orlando ­­­­— that aren’t in a playoff position at the moment just happen to be the two hottest teams in the Eastern Conference with a four-game winning streak.

But the tough times ahead aren’t just based on the Raptors’ competition. The elephant that few are talking about isn’t quite in the room yet, but he’s on his way.

Waiting in the wings for management is a very tough decision that arrives as soon as Andrea Bargnani and Kyle Lowry are ready to return to action.

It’s at least a couple of weeks away but it’s a decision that, depending on how it’s carried out, could have an impact on the franchise for years to come.

And while it’s ultimately head coach Dwane Casey’s decision to make, GM Bryan Colangelo will obviously have input. It is, after all, the roster he put together.

But handling this decision is going to take the utmost tact.

In Lowry you have a player who prides himself on his toughness, his ability to score and most of all to be a go-to guy on his team.

His first two NBA homes were both abandoned in large part because he couldn’t maintain a starting role there.

With Jose Calderon playing at an elite level and the entire team playing at an much better from where they had been under Lowry with the emphasis on “Team”, bringing Lowry back and immediately inserting him into the starting five at Calderon’s expense might just result in outright team revolt.

On the other hand, there’s no telling what Lowry’s reaction would if he loses his starting role for the third time in his career.

The Bargnani situation is a similar potential bombshell just waiting to explode, although it could hardly pack the potential for explosion that the former has. Certainly he’s not as fiery or temperamental as Lowry, but what exactly do you do with Bargnani when he’s healthy? Even with a favourable schedule, how do you tell a team that has turned the season around that the guy that couldn’t get it done earlier in the season will be coming back into a prominent role? Or does he even come back at all?

Regardless of which way the schedule turns in the coming weeks, Colangelo and Casey have their work cut out for them. Maintaining their winning ways may be the least of their problems.